It’s a dry summer and a stormy summer. Hello paradox, welcome to Wisconsin! They say that extreme summers like this one are going to be the new norm. That’s why they changed the name to “global climate change”. Well, the system is less balanced, but nature keeps on rolling with the punches, adapting and moving along as it ever has! Here are some images that found me during the last few weeks here in stormy, dry Wisconsin π
Wonder Moments
Why Natural Stone Jewelry Isn’t About Rocks
Did you think this post would be about nature-inspired installation art?
Well, it is! Eight years before I began making natural stone jewelry, I was a senior at Allegheny College, finishing up a minor in geology and a major in fine arts. My concentration was ceramic sculpture, but for my senior project I took on the task of finding out how I would make art when I didn’t have a bunch of kilns and free clay at my beck and call. The first half of the semester I spent looking for and not finding a way of making art that pleased me.
Then I started smearing clay on the wall and embedding found nature objects into it.
It seemed so right to include short poems on the wall that went with the found object, so I did. I dove right into truth and simplicity and laid what I had really been thinking about all this time right out on the table for everyone to critique (an important part of the art courses, but the most painful part) When the senior show was put up, lo and behold, other people were touched by my work and it inspired their lives and it inspired me!
By pushing myself into a different medium, I began to really understand that all my art pieces had been about the wonder moments, the ah-hah moments, that I experienced in nature and that gave meaning to my life. I understood that at the core, my art was and had always been, about a search for meaning. Every piece was a part of me searching for the question and a part of me answering the question, and here, finally, the searching part of me understood the answering part and the work clicked with me. It clicked with others!
Our professors always talked about looking for the threads that followed through all of our art pieces and urged us to follow the trail the threads led us on. So when I started making jewelry, the echos of this senior project came back and helped me recognize that jewelry making held the same meaning for me as fine art does because both are about finding meaning in life through the wonder-moments I/we experience through our time spent in nature and and with the wild. Seem like a lot for river rock jewelry to live up to? Nah! That’s what it’s all about, baby!!
Nature Photographs: Dry Beauty
This week’s nature photographs are all about dryness. Why? Because it’s gosh-darned DRY here in Southern Wisconsin!! Dry doesn’t mean barren, though. There’s still beauty and wonder out there, you’ve just got to open your mind and let your eyes wander π I probably never would have picked out that ladybug if the grass hadn’t been brown and dry and parched and crackly π Yes, I’m an optimist, why do you ask?!
If you enjoyed these nature pics, check out some of my blog archives, there’s more where these came from!
Have an awesome weekend!
p.s. I guess this post really worked, because this morning it is raining!!
Ever Heard of Mammatus Clouds?
I looked out my window yesterday morning and caught sight of these awesome, eerie clouds! Apparently, my coworkers were looking at the same clouds over at the library because the email that greeted me when I got to work in the afternoon said the clouds they’d seen in the morning had been identified as Mammatus Clouds. Usually appearing before severe thunderstorms and even tornadic storms, according to Wikipedia. I wish they’d actually dropped some rain on us. Southern Wisconsin is VERY dry right now!! (* UPDATE It rained all last night, after I’d written this post, thank goodness!)
Thought you’d enjoy seeing them as much as I did! Sure hope they don’t show up again during our 4th of July cookout π Wishing you a great weekend, friend!
Beach Stone Hot Spot: Lodi Point, Seneca Lake, New York
Getting to look for beach stone in new places is my favorite part of taking a vacation! (Don’t get me wrong, my cousin’s wedding in Rochester last weekend was beautiful and fun and I had an amazing time dancing/talking/laughing with my 12 cousins and my aunts and uncles!) But ever since I got a tip from my Facebook Fan Page friend about Lodi Point Beach on Seneca Lake, I knew that there was no way I’d travel all the way to Rochester, NY and miss this sweet little beach that’s an hour and a half south of there! Lodi Point is a great place to find smooth, flat stones and also beach glass π Other points of interest for this beachcombing delight is that the park has public restrooms and a large playground for the kids! No swimming allowed, but who wants to swim when there are so many awesome rocks to play with??
View Rochester to Lodi Point beach stones and Hosmer Winery in a larger map
The reason there’s so much beach glass at Lodi Point is because of all the wineries around the Finger Lakes. In fact, we ended up just 4 miles from my dad’s cousin’s award-winning winery, so we stopped by to say hi to her, too!
I can’t wait to start making jewelry from these beautiful stones! I brought back so many, I think I’ll drill some to offer as supplies to other artisans, too π Anyway, if you’re like me and can’t resist a new beachcombing adventure, I give a big thumbs up to Lodi Point Park on Seneca Lake. A fun side trip the next time you’re in the Finger Lakes region!
Nature Photographs: Out Fishing and at Home
I’m lost when I forget my phone at home! Not because I can’t stand to be away from the internet or out of touch with the world, but because I wouldn’t have a camera with me to capture those wonder moments that jump out at me when I’m least expecting it. Here’s a collection of some of my nature photographs from the past few weeks! (Oh! And if you enjoy seeing my nature pics, then you’re invited to follow me on Instagram π I’m a really visual person, so it’s a natural for me to be drawn to photographs of people’s lives as a way of getting to know them better. Like flipping through someone’s family scrapbook!)